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‘An example would be genes for insecticidal proteins to fight white grubs and other pests.’

‘On hatching of eggs, the grubs feed on soft tissues inside the trunk.’

‘If mountain pine beetle grubs were to become an urban delicacy, then we could rescue the inland forests while offering an alternative to mushroom picking and tree planting summer jobs for B.C.'s youth.’

‘They collect twelve species of mushrooms, four types of termites, crickets, three types of grubs, and twelve species of caterpillars.’

‘Soil-applied insecticides recommended for control of rootworm larvae also may prevent early stand losses due to wireworms, grubs, seedcorn maggot, and seedcorn beetles.’

‘Insect larvae such as leatherjackets and chafer grubs, which feed on grass roots, have now reached a size and state of succulence that tempts birds to dig for them, spoiling lawns in the process.’

‘A larva is an insect in a state of development (displaying little or no similarity to the adult form) lasting from the time of its leaving the egg until its transformation into a pupa, e.g. a grub or a caterpillar.’

‘Early fall, when grubs feed near the surface, is the best time to control them.’

‘No matter, I have seen their crazy joy at lesser things - a beetle grub, a lost dragonfly.’

‘Moles have small, sharp incisors and canine teeth that are used for catching and eating grubs and earthworms.’

‘Beetle grubs can turn a fine looking lawn into a patchwork quilt of yellow spots.’

‘In the dark of the night, the rat-size slow-moving animals sniff with their long tubular snouts for ants, insects, grubs, and small reptiles that venture forth.’

‘Perhaps it's best not to think of the sea of grubs, flies and beetles there must be underfoot.’

‘If the early stand loss is a result of seedcorn maggot, wireworm, grubs, or early cutworm infestation, timely response with rescue treatments may not be feasible.’

verb

‘The down-to-earth boffin has been kicking up a stink about excrement studies and grubbing around in old filth for more than 30 years.’

‘Lake sturgeon are slow moving fish, spending most of their time grubbing on the bottom for food.’

‘Instead of appealing to our higher faculties and social conscience, the campaigns have grubbed about in our pockets, offering a little bit more here, a little bit less there.’

‘You spent four years in Africa, in England, in France, grubbing around in the insides of airplane engines and then they shipped you to an air base on a godforsaken island.’

‘I think maybe he's spent so long grubbing around down there that he finds it hard to see the good in people.’

‘All three parties have spent so much time grubbing about in the undergrowth of politics that Gordon Brown's Saturday call to remember the high ground of issues sent a shock wave through the nation.’

‘It seems to me that when a once great Tory Party is reduced to grubbing around in its opponents’ expenses to try and score points, it has indeed become small-minded and mean.’

‘It will do anything you could possibly want, if you are prepared to grub about in templates, add-ons, and configuration files.’

‘We no longer go off into the forest, hunting for our game and grubbing for roots and berries.’

‘This fish obviously earns its living grubbing about the bottom and scavenging.’

‘Last fall, students went grubbing under rocks looking for glowworms and learning about the phases of the moon.’

‘He was an illiterate village urchin grubbing around with goats and chickens till the age of 12.’

‘Politicians in this country have been grubbing through the embers of the American election to see what they can learn.’

‘The craze for ferns and the craving for grubbing in rock-pools at the seaside, popularised by Gosse's engaging handbooks, went hand in hand with the plant display cases and marine aquaria that festooned countless parlours.’

‘Sometimes only bubbles can be seen on the surface as they grub around the bottom for food.’

1.1grub something up/outwith objectRemove something from the earth by digging it up.

‘many miles of hedgerows were grubbed up’

‘construction operations including clearing and grubbing’

‘My grandad has grubbed out a bed for nasturtiums, and trained them up a wall.’

‘Those hundreds, or thousands, or hundreds of thousands of miles of hedge that have been grubbed up every week since the war, well, I'm damned if I can see where they went.’

‘Wine varieties were grubbed up and table and raisin varieties were planted in their place.’

‘We could solve London's housing crisis by levelling its historic buildings, grubbing up the parks and building high-rise homes in their place.’

‘The portion of the canyon to receive the initial refuse was prepared by clearing and grubbing the native vegetation.’

‘Ted and Mary thought sport was a waste of time - the boys could expend plenty of energy grubbing thistles, or helping with hay making on the farm.’

‘The alternative is to grub out a well-established hedge and replace it with a fence, thereby losing habitat for birds and insects.’

‘If a fence be an old bad one, grub it up and raise a new one.’

‘It can either be grubbed up and burnt or ploughed under.’

‘I plant carrots late, just so I have lots of them for winter; if I've protected them with a mulch of hay, I can keep grubbing them out through the season.’

‘Over the winter months we've been doing a great deal of clearing up on our part-neglected croft garden, grubbing out and shredding dead shrubs and cutting back those that have either grown too large or are crowding others.’

‘A new surface was laid over half the length of each road before it was discovered it was totally unsuitable and had to be grubbed up, to be replaced with a surface that is not compatible with the stated concept of a Home Zone.’

3no object, with adverbialWork hard, especially at a dull or demeaning task.

‘she has achieved independence without having to grub for it’

‘He had to use a pseudonym to continue to write, and continue to write he did, for years, while William Shakespeare, whose name is used, went unwittingly on, grubbing for money in Stratford.’

‘I don't like to look like I'm grubbing for money.’

‘Anyway, we didn't stay at the reception very long - too many people, too hot and I always find people grubbing for free food somewhat disturbing.’

‘This is a clear attempt to scratch the itch of racism, homophobia and bigotry and pander to the culturally insecure in order to grub for votes.’

‘It is supposed to be strictly a commerce-free zone - not exactly a public service, maybe, but also not a place to grub for the Almighty Dollar.’

‘A composer of classical music can secure a living or even performances only with difficulty, so the tendency is to grub away in isolation, writing to satisfy, not a consumer, but an inner need.’

‘It's an intriguing question: why is grubbing for dough held in a higher regard than grubbing for votes?’

‘Talk to me in a few years and maybe I'll be like all the other jaded researchers grubbing for money.’

‘The freedom to sit here and enjoy the show without having to rush down there and start grubbing for coins.’

work hard, toil, labour, work one's fingers to the bone, work like a dog, work like a trojan, work day and night, exert oneself, keep at it, keep one's nose to the grindstone, grind, slave, plough, plod, peg